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Bach Masses
A menu of Bach is on the cards, as Dunedin perform three of his well-loved Lutheran masses with fantastic soloists.
Find out more »Handel’s Messiah
Handel’s Messiah is now a firm fixture in the festive calendar, yet, as with any great masterpiece, retains a breathtaking freshness and dynamism, even at this the 275th anniversary of its sensational Dublin premiere. Its enduring appeal lies in music of tireless and white-hot inspiration (he wrote it in three weeks), irresistible chorus writing, and, ultimately, a universal message of hope for humanity, thanks to its superbly plotted trajectory from suffering to salvation, and from darkness to light.
Find out more »Bach’s Matthew Passion
Known even in Bach’s time as his ‘great’ Passion, the Matthew Passion lays out the narrative of Christ’s suffering and death in epic proportions: double chorus, double orchestra, and in music of staggering beauty and profundity. It unfolds with intractable dramatic momentum, as well as presenting a succession of tableaux that invite the listener to contemplate the many resonances of this journey. However, the work also suggests a more fundamental question: how, even in the depths of despair and subjected…
Find out more »Vivaldi’s La Favorita
From his mid-twenties, Antonio Vivaldi was employed as a violin teacher at the Ospedale della Pietá in Venice. Although officially an orphanage, the Ospedale was in reality a home for illegitimate daughters of Venetian noblemen, and was a generously endowed school and residence with one of the finest orchestras in the city. The ‘Red Priest’ wrote several concertos for his preferred student there (La Favorita), and these display wonderfully florid invention and virtuosic pyrotechnics. This is a rare opportunity to…
Find out more »Bach Mass in B Minor
“If music has the power to direct our entire existence towards nobleness, this music is great. Bach has achieved this.” Is there a piece in the entire Western musical canon that so fully embodies this sentiment? The B Minor Mass began its life as a job application, but was later assembled towards the end of Bach’s life as a statement of faith: in God, of course, but just as much in music: to offer healing, unity and promise. With its…
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